In the state of the art, systems for optimized power distribution are known. The publication US 2008/0217471 A1, for example, describes systems for distributing power, whereby the operational state of the loads/devices connected to the network are monitored by querying the parameters of the respective devices. If a device is outside of its normal operational state, the system has the possibility of disconnecting this device from the network, by reducing or even fully cutting off the power supply to the device in question.
The systems described are limited to identifying the operational state of each device connected to the system on the basis of signal parameters, such as current and voltage, which are sent to the devices by a control unit, and then taking appropriate measures if the device demonstrates abnormal operating behaviour. Information about the operational state of a power supply source which is supplying the device cannot or can only indirectly be derived from this.
The disadvantage of the known systems is that the upper limits of a power source cannot be fully utilized due to the lack of knowledge about its status. Retrieving the status of each individual device is relatively complex, however, from the point of view of the circuit. A device is generally shut down as soon as it reaches a critical operational state.
A utilization of the upper limits of the available power resources/sources in order to initially avoid the disconnection or prioritized shutdown of loads/devices is, however, apparently not directly considered in the known publications.
On the basis of this concept, it is true that partial failures in the system can be eliminated or the power consumption in a complete system reduced if, for example, a main power supply source fails and the system has to switch to a replacement power source. However, the known systems do not feature the possibility of providing information about how long an energy resource can be operated at a threshold level or how long a limited energy resource will continue to be available and which functions or devices can be used/supplied with the remaining power in a system and for how long.